Huntington Beach Pier

To help promote the title sponsor, players on the stadium court at the AVP Championships near the Huntington Beach Pier crammed their lengthy, sweaty bodies into small convertible smart cars that served as benches that must have lacked supreme comfort. Turns out, uncomfortable was a fitting theme for both the top-seeded men's and women's teams, both of which included a Costa Mesa resident. The men's duo of Costa Mesa's Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson of Huntington Beach, as well as the favored women's tandem of Costa Mesa's April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings were both upset in the semifinals on Sunday.

HUNTINGTON BEACH ? Newport Harbor High product Steve Timmons and Corona del Mar High alumnus Brian Lewis each helped their teams advance past pool play on Saturday at the second annual Karch Kiraly Invitational beach volleyball tournament, part of the Bank of the West Beach Games at the Huntington Beach Pier. Timmons and Lewis, who both played for Orange Coast College, are in the same three-team pool. Timmons is playing on the Del Mar team, and Lewis on the Huntington Beach team.

HUNTINGTON BEACH ? Newport Harbor High product Erica Hosseini and Costa Mesa resident Courney Conlogue finished in the top two in their semifinal heats to advance to Saturday's final in the women's pro junior event at the U.S. Open of Surfing at the Huntington Beach Pier. Hosseini won her semifinal heat with a score of 12.0, besting Rosanne Hodge (11.66), Paige Alms (9.07) and Connie Arias (7.34). Conlogue finished second in her semifinal with a score of 10.4. Lee Ann Curren (11.60)

Jenny Marder In Huntington Beach, not everything revolves around the beach -- just most things. Any full weekend in Surf City will naturally leave sand in the shoes, but the beach is just the beginning to what the city has to offer. 6 p.m. Friday: Sit back, relax and sip on cocktails while taking in the ocean view from Duke's barefoot bar, at the foot of the Huntington Beach Pier. 7:30 p.m. Friday: Romantic sunset stroll along the surf. 8 p.m. Friday: Head to Chimayo at the Beach for a seafood dinner, where voodoo shrimp, grilled seafood and wood oven steaks are all popular favorites.

An unidentified man shot and killed himself near the Huntington Beach Pier late Wednesday morning after leading police on a low-speed chase from Newport Beach, where he had shot another man, police said. The man who was shot in Newport Beach survived and was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. Police did not name either man, but witnesses said the man shot in Newport was in his early 20s and was visiting from Lake Tahoe. The motive for the shooting was unknown Wednesday, but witnesses said the dispute was about a woman, possibly the estranged wife of the shooter.

When covering breaking news, landmarks help to tell readers where the event occurred. In many cases, the environment around the police tape is hard to distinguish from any other place in a city. In photographer Kent Treptow's picture of the scene of a car chase that ended with a suicide near the foot of the Huntington Beach Pier, at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street, fewer landmarks would be better known. The Ruby's restaurant at the end of the pier and the lifeguard headquarters at its foot give readers a sense of exactly where the events took place.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Two young men who disappeared while swimming Saturday are presumed drowned, authorities said Monday. A search for 24-year-old John Shua Lee and 20-year-old Shao Moua, both of Banning, was called off at sundown Saturday. Authorities have begun efforts to recover their bodies. At 2:38 p.m. Saturday, Huntington Beach lifeguards spotted four swimmers having trouble in high surf conditions south of the Huntington Beach Pier, said Huntington Beach Fire Department Spokesman Jeff Lopez.

After a long weekend of surfing at the Huntington Beach Pier, five Newport Beach teens qualified for the 2008 USA Surf team, with a shot at eventually representing the U.S. at the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in France in May. Courtney Conlogue of Sage Hill School led the way, qualifying for a fifth consecutive year in both the girls’ under 16 and girls’ 18 brackets. Conlogue, along with the rest of Sunday’s competitors, fought fatigue and spotty wave conditions.

HUNTINGTON BEACH ? Andrew Doheny was just happy to be here Monday, at the Huntington Beach Pier surfing in the final of the Nike 6.0 Pier Pressure Pro Junior. Doheny, of Newport Beach, ended up with a fourth-place finish after a four-man finals heat that was scored over 30 minutes. Each surfer?s top two waves made up for his combined score. The 15-year-old won $1,300 for his placement. He was the lone American among the finalists as the field included three Australians.

Costa Mesa residents Jake Gibb and April Ross will attempt to regain their dominance on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour when it begins its seven-event schedule in May. Gibb, with partner Casey Patterson, won four of seven AVP men's events and finished third in the other three tournaments in 2013, when the two-time Olympian was named AVP MVP, Team of the Year (with Patterson) and the Male Beach Athlete of the Year by USA Volleyball. Ross, an Olympic silver medalist in 2012, earned three AVP titles last season and three third-place finishes with a pair of partners in 2013.

To help promote the title sponsor, players on the stadium court at the AVP Championships near the Huntington Beach Pier crammed their lengthy, sweaty bodies into small convertible smart cars that served as benches that must have lacked supreme comfort. Turns out, uncomfortable was a fitting theme for both the top-seeded men's and women's teams, both of which included a Costa Mesa resident. The men's duo of Costa Mesa's Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson of Huntington Beach, as well as the favored women's tandem of Costa Mesa's April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings were both upset in the semifinals on Sunday.

Donald Sun grew up playing volleyball, so when the opportunity arose to purchase the then-bankrupt Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour in 2007, the Newport Beach resident who was an Orange County All-Star outside hitter at University High dived at the chance. Sun, 38 and his AVP staff, headquartered in Costa Mesa, held an event in Santa Barbara in 2007 and relaunched the tour with seven events in 2013, capped by this weekend's AVP Championships near the Huntington Beach Pier. He saw down with the Daily Pilot at the Huntington Beach event to provide insight on the tour and his experiences as the AVP owner.

Art, surf, skate, fashion and fun intertwined on the corner of Walnut Aveune and 3rd Street in Huntington Beach. The Vans US Open of Surfing is in full effect near Huntington Beach Pier, so that means there is plenty of great scenery outside Hurley Printing Press, a pop-up shop presented by Costa Mesa-based Hurley that is in HB for the week. Yes, the scenery comes in the form of California girls in bikinis and muscle-toned dudes. There were also bright colors and a cool party vibe inside the T-shirt printing shop that took the place of Livery Design Gruppe for the week.

HUNTINGTON BEACH - Over the final few days of the 2012 Nike U.S. Open of Surfing, Julian Wilson earned the moniker Comeback Kid. The 23-year-old Aussie, ranked No. 10 in the world, started earning the nickname Saturday when he rallied to eliminate local favorite and two-time U.S. Open Men's champion Brett Simpson in the Men's Prime round of 16. In the quarterfinals later that day, Wilson came back to knock off John John Florence of Hawaii....

HUNTINGTON BEACH - Scott McCall is no stranger to the water. The 30-year-old grew up in Huntington Beach. He learned to swim at Pacific Sands Cabana Club with his sisters, Jayme and Megan. But McCall always wanted to surf. He received special lessons at the Surf's Up for Down Syndrome event Friday. McCall was one of several potential surfers with Down syndrome learning from pros and experts near the Huntington Beach Pier. Former Angels announcer Rex Hudler's Team Up for Down Syndrome, in conjunction with the International Surfing Museum, put on the inaugural event, which also featured live and silent auctions, as well as a banquet at Sandy's Beach Grill.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Two young men who disappeared while swimming Saturday are presumed drowned, authorities said Monday. A search for 24-year-old John Shua Lee and 20-year-old Shao Moua, both of Banning, was called off at sundown Saturday. Authorities have begun efforts to recover their bodies. At 2:38 p.m. Saturday, Huntington Beach lifeguards spotted four swimmers having trouble in high surf conditions south of the Huntington Beach Pier, said Huntington Beach Fire Department Spokesman Jeff Lopez.

In my time, I have surfed in a lot of events, some for money and fame, not to mention ratings points. However, the one that stands out the most to me happened just this past weekend at the Huntington Beach Pier. What makes a great event? Normally, the prize money, the venue and the waves. However, this time, it was the greatest for an entirely different reason — for the cause. The Project Save Our Surf 24-hour surfing marathon was about help for the right cause — one dear enough to have people participating in 24 hours straight of surfing, raising money for the Surfrider Foundation and Heal the Bay. This event was co-hosted by past surfing champions PT Townend and Shaun Tomson, along with actress Tanna Frederick, and saw a host of professional athletes, actors, actresses, musicians and the general public, who had a chance to participate along with some of their greatest heroes.